Part 2

Can LIAT (1974) Limited Survive?

By Kwame Nkosi Romeo

Guiltiness rests on their conscience

Bob Marley

Without a doubt, LIAT (1974) Limited can survive; however, the airline needs to streamline operations and get taxes lowered to be on the road to recovery. Under those circumstances, Chairman of the OECS, Dominica prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit, and East Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) appointed BDO representative Cleavland Seaforth must swiftly strategize how to save an essential component of the integration movement. 

Prime minister Gaston Browne's leadership is in chaotic turmoil with inflamed policies that marginalize CARICOM nationals and baffle CARICOM's fundamental value principles in the government's disempowering Antigua and Barbuda citizens. Browne's political rhetoric is destroying Caricom and a favorable resolution for LIAT 1974 Ltd. 

Browne's belief system is wrong; the citizenship argument is seriously flawed, but Browne's emphasis is not on the Caribbean citizenry. No, the ALP modus operandi uses CARICOM nationals as assembly line voters to maintain power; in addition to using public funds to bail out political cronies is the party doctrine.

Why did Browne use US$11.1million (EC$30 million) of taxpayers' hard-earned money in 2014 to bail out Caribbean Union Bank (CUB), owned by Ambassador Brian Stuart-Young, a naturalized citizen, and is this misuse of funds another Conflict Of Interest (COI) that supersedes national interest?

Meanwhile, treating LIAT (1974) LTD workers with callous and reckless disregard concerning their twin-island nation's citizenship and neglecting workers' rights is treacherous. LIAT (1974) LTD is more valuable, with a proud history of regional integration and a positive contribution to economic development than CUB. 

The Chokehold of Taxes:

During the post-economic recession and Pre-COVID-19 dilemma, neither Browne, appointed as Chairman of CARICOM July - December 2014, nor any other Chairman of CARICOM, with any sincerity, called attention to the chokehold of taxes affecting LIAT (1974) Limited. Chairman of CARICOM, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines prime minister Ralph Gonsalves, responsible for transportation within the quasi-Caricom cabinet, agrees that taxes need reducing. In a panel discussion organized by the East Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) on July 16, 2020, Gonsalves declared "there is a general acceptance" within the Caribbean to decrease airline taxes to encourage intra-regional travel and make the sector profitable. (Jamaica Observer Caricom chair says there is need for lowering of airport taxes-Friday July 17, 2020)

Gonsalves's statement was deceitful since he knew of LIAT's (1974) Limited dilemma and did nothing to lessen the high taxes during his first six-month tenure from January to June 2014. It was put forward six years later in his second six-month tenure from July to December 2020. Indeed, a farce.

Did any LIAT 1974 Limited shareholders grasp the opportunity during their six-month tenure as Chairman of CARICOM to highlight the airline's crises since David Evans's statement, the El Perila Management Services report, before the advent of the COVID pandemic? None! Yet all espouse sustainability, resilience, and unity without a comprehensive national economic strategy.

Today, it's not only the impact of COVID-19 but also the compounded effect of LIAT (1974) Ltd on people's lives. LIAT's (1974) LTD dilemma is due to the shareholders' government's lack of strategic focus. In Antigua and Barbuda, livelihood is significantly more impoverished, highlighting the community's low socioeconomic status (SES). So don't be fooled by Browne's repeated statistical hogwash of a high GDP per capita of US$20,000 without recognizing the country as a highly unequal society and donor-dependent state unable to extend stimulus to workers.

By contrast, Barbados prime minister Mia Motley's leadership is competent and compassionate; she emphasizes the common good. The 15-point document underscores commitment to focusing on a sustainable blueprint without wagering the country's future. Motley's immediate $ 1.7 billion stimuli are the proper economic stability emphasizing food security. Motley's plan of action for livelihood stability is logical, transforming words into accomplishments.

What constitutes a powerhouse? Uplifting leadership, human dignity and equality, proper economic blueprint, local participation, and future sustainability. ALP's basic tenet of the creative enrichment scheme is based on economic plunder, disempowering local people, and violating citizenship protocols. Today, the nation is in a languished state of wreckage; borrowing nonstop from the People's Republic Of China (PROC) is now caught in a web of debt-trap diplomacy. How will the public fly out of this dilemma? 

LIAT (1974) Solution

The solution to LIAT (1974) Ltd chaos is for CARICOM to resolve the issue, invest in the airline, offer staff shares, discontinue unprofitable routes, and cut rental costs, particularly LIAT (1974) Ltd Headquarters located in the Sealy Building Antigua. Many people question why are so many government businesses situated there since the monthly expenditure is high. The airline's survival hinges on these small steps and requests investments from the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, etc.  

LIAT (1974) Ltd assisted in forging economic progress and integration that benefits many countries economies. No airline can fulfill the capabilities of safely moving people within the region other than LIAT (1974) Ltd. 

This company is extraordinary, and we should be proud of the airline. How do you replace an airline that 2017 accounts for 75% of all regional capacity within the sub-region (45% in 2006), serves 15 destinations, transports 750k passengers annually, 500 flights/week, on-time performance of 84%, interlines with 13 major carriers?  (Air transport & Tourism: Regional Connectivity and LIAT's role - Presentation Air Transport Meeting November 2018)

For example, in 2017, of countries, tourist arrival LIAT passengers to destination and flight departures are as follows;

Antigua 30% and 44%

Dominica, 59% and 44%

Grenada 30% and 50%

St. Kitts 31% and 45%

St. Lucia 16% and 38%

Barbados 26 and 52%

Trinidad 19% and 11%

Guyana 13 and 22%

Do not blame the CEOs; both David Evans and Julie-Reifer Jones repeatedly mentioned the shortcomings of LIAT(1974) Ltd and the social and economic ramifications of high taxes. Twenty-eight months ago, Reifer-Jones' declaration to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) on November 22, 2018, concerned LIAT 1974 Ltd's entire state of affairs. This fact came four years after Evans's statement and three years following the El Peral report. Reifer-Jones appealed to the shareholding governments to find a solution to excessive taxes, "We need to acknowledge that the taxes are too high and get an agreement from the governments to reduce the taxes to some level."

I agree with the Chairman of the OECS, Dominica prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit that national dialogue involving CARICOM is needed to resolve people's intra-regional movement and airline transportation dilemma and not Browne's ruthlessness. Since Evans's call for lowering taxes on August 11, 2014, five shareholding governments assumed the six-month tenure of Chairman of CARICOM, beginning with prime minister Gaston Browne from July to December 2014 to Ralph Gonsalves July - December 2020. The present Chairman of the OECS, Roosevelt Skerrit, also took on that role from July to December 2016.

There is no replacement for LIAT, so other CARICOM countries must consider investing in stabilizing this most important integration link. Skerrit's assessment corroborates the argument that more financial input is necessary to save LIAT (1974) to offset liabilities amounting to US$44,076,652 million (EC119,006,962 million) as of April 2020. This debt is to settle a legal severance liability to former LIAT (1974) Ltd employees of  US$29,259,754 million ($EC79,001,337) and US$14,816,898 million ($EC40,005,625) of unpaid entitlement to workers across the region.

LIAT's survival now rests in the hands of the CARICOM Heads of Government, and Skerritt is optimistic; "I am hoping that at some point, we can have discussions at the Caricom and OECS level. It is a matter that has to be addressed. These people are entitled to it." (Skerrit wants a regional approach to solving the LIAT saga- Antigua Observer -Shermain Bique-Charles - March 25, 2021.)

Everyone remains hopeful the outcome is progressive, and LIAT (1974) Ltd takes to the skies.